Exhibition on the theme of sight loss at Colchester rail station
Exhibition created in partnership with Essex Sight Loss Council and Greater Anglia on the theme of sight loss to help raise awareness at Colchester railway station. To coincide with the 200 years since the birth of the modern railway and the 200th anniversary of Braille, art exhibitions created by blind and partially sighted (BPS) people highlight the impact of sight loss on daily lives at Colchester, Norwich, and Broxbourne railway stations.
Colchester’s exhibition, in the waiting room on platform 4 at Colchester railway station, opened to the public with a special launch event on 18 March.
The exhibition in Norwich also opened on 18 March and the exhibition in the waiting room at Broxbourne is due to open soon.
The exhibition – called ‘Do You See What I See?’ – features art that visually represents how sight loss impacts blind and partially sighted people differently. It also features special railway heritage signs that include braille and tactile lettering.
Sight Loss Council volunteers and other blind and partially sighted people worked with a range of artists, including Lindsey Whitelaw and Clarke Reynolds, to transform original pieces of art into a collection based on descriptions from blind and partially sighted individuals on the unique and personal ways they perceive the world.
The exhibition will be in situ until the end of April and aims to dispel misconceptions about how blind and partially sighted people create and access art. Poster board space for the exhibition was donated by the Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership.
Colleagues from Sight Loss Councils and Greater Anglia at Colchester station (credit: Greater Anglia)
‘Do You See What I See’ exhibition helping to raise awareness of sight loss
The awareness-raising project by Essex Sight Loss Council received £5,000 in financial support from Greater Anglia’s Customer and Community Improvement Fund.
Sight Loss Councils prioritise making transport accessible. This is because blind and partially sighted people have told us this is an issue that matters to them the most. We work with transport providers across the country. This project is a celebration of the work they have done in collaboration with Greater Anglia to improve accessibility for BPS passengers.
Essex Sight Loss Council is holding a special symposium at Greater Anglia’s Colchester offices on 18 March, to coincide with the exhibitions, for participants to share their lived experience as blind and partially sighted passengers and help inform further improvements to the travel by rail and other public transport modes. The exhibitions opened in the waiting rooms at Colchester and Norwich on 18 March, with the launch in Broxbourne to be announced soon.
As well as this joint project, Sight Loss Council members will continue their work with Greater Anglia to deliver staff vision awareness sessions to improve customer service and the travel experience for blind and partially sighted people.
Engagement Manager for the East of England, Samantha Leftwich, said:
“Essex Sight Loss Council is excited to be working on this project with support from Greater Anglia and their Customer and Community Improvement Fund (CCIF). This initiative to install art at stations, that has either been created or in collaboration with blind and partially sighted people, helps highlight how everyone can create and enjoy art and supports our wider public-facing campaigns.
“The aim of the project is to improve some waiting areas in stations by using art to raise awareness of living with a vision impairment. It has also been designed to encourage our wider communities to engage with art in other ways, including feeling tactile art and listening to audio descriptions, and demonstrate how blind and partially sighted people actively participate in the arts.”
Greater Anglia’s Partnerships Manager, Scott Dolling, said:
“We are pleased to support this initiative to help raise awareness and increase understanding of what the world can look like for a person with sight loss. Colchester, Norwich and Broxbourne are three very busy stations, so I hope that the artwork will be seen by many people, offer food for thought and help raise the profile of Thomas Pocklington Trust, Sight Loss Councils and the valuable work that they do.
“We are always looking to enhance the role of the railway in support of the community it serves, and our new Customer and Community Improvement Fund is a way of supporting further locally focused enhancements in line with community needs.”
Rail 200 braille artwork at Colchester station (credit: Greater Anglia)
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Publication date: 19 March 2025